Bamiyan Reborn Buddhapada Buddhapada Buddhapada Bamiyan: A Continuum Bamiyan: A Continuum Bamiyan: A Continuum Bamiyan Reborn I pigment print Bamiyan Reborn II pigment print Bamiyan Reborn III pigment print Samten Kakrak Shahmama Buddhapada Buddha Mudra Prices on request The world's two tallest standing statues of Buddha were destroyed on March 11, 2001 in Bamiyan, Afghanistan by the fundamentalist Taliban rulers. These statues were of tremendous importance to the cultural heritage of Afghanistan. Their destruction was not just an eradication of ancient beauty and inspiration but also a savage act of censorship and intolerance, targeting art and learning in general. This event was met with worldwide condemnation and was a sad harbinger of the violence to come exactly six months later in America on September 11. In response to both these tragic events, I created a body of work to give remembrance to the splendor and peace of these two towering Buddhas. Bamiyan: A Continuum is a 10 x 6 foot grid comprised of 108 panels. On each panel, over an image of one of the two colossal statues, I have painted a seated Buddha, symbolizing the state of meditation, unshakable, serene and indestructible. This artwork is in the traveling exhibition The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama. Buddhapada was made into a site-specific installation, displayed for the opening events of this exhibition at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, December 2007. Buddhapada was also made into a prayer flag for the opening of the Rubin Museum of Art.